Group forms to fight anti-fracking issue

YOUNGSTOWN — A coalition of business, labor and political officials not only oppose a citizen-developed charter-amendment for its ban on fracking in Youngstown, but say the language is so vague it could prohibit anything from dry cleaning clothes to driving a car.

The law, on the May 7 ballot, could be interpreted as outlawing aerosol deodorants, certain cosmetics, and existing gas and oil wells, said Alan Wenger, an attorney with the Harrington Hoppe & Mitchell law firm and chairman of its oil and gas practice group that represents hundreds of property owners. He is a member of the Mahoning Valley Coalition for Job Growth and Investment, which announced today its formation and its effort to defeat the charter amendment.

But Tom Cvetkovich, a member of Frack Free Youngstown, which obtained the needed signatures to get the proposal on the ballot, said the bill specifically points to fracking, and claims of it doing more than that aren’t correct.

“The bill doesn’t go as far as they say,” he said. “We don’t intend to go after other businesses or people.”